Engines have valvetrain assemblies that may develop failures or faults from time to time. Reliable and timely detection of such fault conditions associated with the valvetrain is desirable. U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,442 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the '442 patent’) discloses a method for detecting a valve-related fault condition in an internal combustion engine. The system of the '442 patent utilizes the intake air temperatures at each of a plurality of cylinder sections of the engine. A difference between successive air temperatures for each cylinder section present on the engine is determined and compared with an average value of the intake air temperatures taken at the plurality of cylinder sections to determine a rate of change occurring in the intake air temperature for each cylinder section. This rate of change is then compared to an empirically calculated threshold value to determine if a valve-related fault condition has occurred. It should be evident that there is, however, a continued need for systems and methods that exhibit a high degree of accuracy and confidence in the detection of fault conditions in valvetrains of engines.
The present disclosure provides a system and a method to detect failures in a valvetrain of an engine with a high level of reliability.